President Droupadi Murmu hails ‘virasat’ and ‘vikas’ focus of Modi govt

New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for providing a decisive government for two terms.

“By 2047, we have to build a nation that will be connected to the pride of the past and which will have all the golden chapters of modernity,” President Murmu said in the Central Hall of Parliament on the first day of the Budget session of Parliament.

‘Amrit kaal', described by the government as the 25-year period culminating in the centenary of India's independence, is the time to build an India which is 'aatmanirbhar' (self reliant) and also fulfils its humanitarian obligations, she said.

The government’s thrust on 'virasat' (heritage) and 'vikas' (development) has worked for all without any discrimination, the President said in her first address to the joint sitting of Parliament on the first day of the Budget session, laying out the government's vision for building a developed India in the next 25 years.

The maiden address of the President was followed by the presentation of an economic survey by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to detail the financial scene of the country in the current financial year, a day ahead of the tabling of the Union Budget for 2023-24 on February 1, the last annual budget of the Modi government before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

People have been given basic amenities missing for decades and modern infrastructure long aspired for is being built across the country, she said, and highlighted the expansion of the digital network and the crackdown on corruption during the Modi government's tenure.

The government has ushered in many positive changes in its nearly nine years in power and the biggest has been that the self confidence of every Indian is at its peak, the President said.

The world has changed the way it looks at India, she said during her more than hour-long speech. While India used to depend on others to solve its problems, it is now working to solve global problems, she said.